The Loss of Hope
by Laki
Summary: It's after the begininning of the invasion, supplies are limited and Gaz and Dib are forced to take on the roles of adults. ZAGR. More to come...keep an eye up for updates!!
1. The News That Shook No One

*~Several years before present~*  
  
Gaz laid her head down on her desk as the day was coming to a close. The gentle hum of the air conditioner was almost reaching it's seemed goal of lulling her to sleep when the bell sounded for the skool day to come to an end. She hurridley gathered her few folders and her Gameslave from inside her desk before she went towards the front steps of the building to wait for Dib. She stood for about a minute before settling down and playing her Gameslave. Dib was most likely being held for some sort of detention again. He was getting into slight trouble quite a bit recently. His and Zim's rants toward eachother would often end up this way, they were both either in detention after skool or during break, depending on when Ms. Bitters decided to stay in to watch her pair of troublemakers.  
  
She won several fights in her game and was reaching into her bookbag for another game to play when someone's shadow cast over her. She looked up and saw Zim, his head eclipsing the sun from her point of view, at least he was being useful for one thing.  
  
"Girl, your filthy stinkbeast brother has requested me to tell you he's going to be late." Gaz raised an eyebrow and Zim chuckled, "Haha, he spoke during that stupid detention and got caught, haha!" he muttered to himself before walking off. Gaz nodded and said goodbye to Zim, who ignored her, and continued on another game.  
  
  
  
*~Present~*  
  
It was lighter than usual today. Gaz looked up out of a dirty window from her room in the old apartment building. It was still cloudier than it normally was during her childhood, but brighter then usual nonetheless.  
  
She sighed softly and almost nodded off to sleep when the horrid door creaked open as loudly as it seemed it could.  
  
"Who is it and what do you want??" she grumbled as she hid herself under the ratty blanket.  
  
"It's me sis, it's Dib. We need you outside, and GIR has some flowers for you also." She could barely see, but GIR strode up beside Dib and handed Gaz some flowers he found outside. They seemed to be a deep violet, although her eyes could decieve her. It didn't matter what color they were though, or even that fact that they were most likely the most pitiful flowers she had ever seen in her life, flowers were rare here now. Infact, she couldn't think of a time in the past few months that she had seen any flower besides a dandilion.  
  
"I hope you like them Gazzy! Master said they were pretty too, but I didn't let master have them because they're for youuu!" GIR drug out the last word adorably. The little S.I.R. unit had become the "pet" of their pitiful "camp."  
  
"Thank you GIR." GIR made some sort or whirring sound that could best be described as a purr and skipped about the room. Gaz was sitting up now, and Dib was leaning in the corner or her room, to her left. GIR pranced about the room, and Gaz noticed a new bit of damage on him. She made a note to her self to have Zim reapair him and dragged out of her bed.  
  
"Dib?"  
  
He looked up from the floor, "Yes Gaz?"  
  
"You and GIR step out for a few, I'm gonna change into something more decent."  
  
He nodded and motioned for the S.I.R. unit to follow him. They walked out of the room and shut the door behind them.  
  
She padded out of her bed to change into something more decent to be seen out of the apartment in.  
  
Once she got out of her room she noticed Zim sitting on their "couch", which was really and old park bench with a back set against the wall. "Zim?" she questioned.  
  
"Yes Gazzette?" She hated it when he called her by her full name.  
  
She just looked at him for a second, noticing how tall he was now. This was at one point a plan to get back on the good side of the tallest and stop the invasion of Earth. The plan failed. Zim was about 6 foot 3 inches now, and he had been for the past few years, even before things had gotten this bad. "I just wanted to tell you GIR has some new holes in him, you might want to check them out."  
  
"Oh." he sighed. He stood up and walked closer to her, placing a slender hand on her shoulder, he had a full five fingers now, and a little bit of pale hair on his arm, all results of the injections, and most likely why the tallest didn't believe he was on their side, and why they wanted him dead.  
  
Dib had isolated some of the growth horomone from a dead human body they had found when the fighting first started. He began giving Zim injections of it until he was the height he is now and had been for the last two years when they gave up the hope of regaining him any semblance of Irken status, and when they gave up the hope of stopping the invasion.  
  
Almost of his features were definetly Irken, but a few small things had changed, for a few years, when he began gaining the extra digits, he had two little stumps on his hands, making picking anything up or using them at all very awkward. His hands were nicely defined now, and still had the points of his old truly Irken hands. He has also grown a slight bit or fuzz on his chin, also almost a clear blonde, no one would even notice unless they were the distance Gaz was from him now.  
  
She reached her arms around his waist and hugged him, and he did the same back, with his long arms around her shoulders. They just stood there for several minutes before he broke the silence and the embrace, taking a small step away from her to talk. "Gazzy, they needed to talk to you outside."  
  
She nodded, "I know...I was just, just, comfortable."  
  
He nodded and placed his arm around her shoulders, leading her out of the dank apartment.  
  
The building she lived in now was a rot to behold. GIR was sitting on the steps waiting for her and Zim to come out. The concrete path was missing large portions of it and the plaster coating on the building was filty all over and missing in some spots, exposing the multi-colored brick underneath. The room had once been labeled 2C but those plates were now missing, leaving only a cleaner spot and some holes where they had once been.  
  
The two stepped out and adjusted their postition to hand in hand as they walked out to a circle of people crowded about a pile of scrapwood that would make a bonfire later that evening. Dib looked up at them, he looked calm, but one could still see the near disgust in his eyes and he saw his sister's situation with Zim. At one point he would have killed him for being involved with his sister, but now he was just confused by their situation, seeing as Zim was Irken and Gaz was human, he didn't mind much anymore though.  
  
"Gaz, Zim, take a seat, we all need to talk about something." Gaz and Zim sat down on the ground next to eachother, continuing to hold eachother's hands as Dib conitued on. He announced to their group of the three plus some other people in their late teens like themselves, "I found out today that about a month ago the Invaders took over and exterminated all of the population of Asia. They started with Japan," Zim cut him off politely, if that's possible.  
  
"They wanted to destroy the capital of your technology, update the equippment for the production of Irken weapons and craft, and dispose of and/or enslave the population there." Dig glared at him slightly for cutting him off, but Zim simply looked down and patted Gaz's hair.  
  
"Anyways," Dib continued, "Everything is gone over there now, a few of the scientists were enslaved, because they could be taught how to operate some of the new machinery I suppose, and everyone else was killed. They've set up bases all over, and begun building cities, mostly in what was Russia. I guess that's it people." He seemed dissapointed that what he said was barely taken with any shock at all, but everyone saw it coming when they heard that the invasion had begun in Asia.  
  
The group sat around for a little longer, carrying on their own individual conversations. Zim and Gaz just sat there across from Dib, leaning into eachother, not doing anything or saying anything at all, just enjoying eachother's embrace.  
  
Things hadn't always been like that. About 3 years earlier they were only friends and Dib still felt severe hostility towards Zim. Gaz was only sixteen then, and Dib was seventeen, so young. They were adults in the new world they lived in now.  
  
Some smaller children that couldn't remember a world that wasn't like this played some distance from the circle with GIR. They all ran about happily like nothing was ever wrong, playing a game of "tag" with the tiny bot. He almost envied them, the children and the couple across from him. The children were the ones he envied for the most logical reasons, they would grow up in this world, be accustomed to it, and be stronger. They would know how to properly put up a resistance, and would most likely do so when they were old enough to even know what a resistance was. He also envied Zim and Gaz to a point, they had eachother as reasons to keep alive, they had some shape of romance in this dying world. In his eyes it may have been some strange, twisted realtionship, but it was one, and he wanted someone to love like that, to share his hopes with, his dreams, and even his darkest depressions.  
  
  
  
(Authors notes) Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews!! This will devolp a nice plot and more flashbacks! OOH FUN! *jumps for joy* 


	2. Reflections Through Irken Eyes

The Loss Of Hope: Part Two  
  
Laki  
  
/blah/ - thoughts  
  
*~blah~* Designates the time in which a scene is occurring, such as the present or the past, if it is in the past, it is a flashback.  
  
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(Author's notes) I would love to thank everyone that reviewed me and got me to begin writing another chapter not even 24 hours after the first one had been posted on ff.net. I've already had one strange review, *cough*ULTRAnormalMAN*cough* which I didn't appreciate much, but it's all good. Please, watch the show and know a little bit about it before reading anymore. Flames will be used to keep our poor heroes warm in their dank apartment, as it has no central heating system, and winter is coming. Be prepared for some interesting twists and turns and several more flashbacks which will help explain much of the plot leading up to this point. These flashbacks will take up a few more chapters, (I hope), and then we can really get the ball rolling! Enjoy part two, and read my Utopia fic under "Originals." Bonsoir. *bows*  
  
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*~Still present~*  
  
Zim headed away from the little "meeting" to pick up GIR. Gaz had noticed some more dings and holes in his shell that needed repairing.  
  
He had really enjoyed Gaz's company for the past few years. They had started out as aquaintances and moved on from there to where their realtionship is now. It's truly amazing the things that war or impending death can do to people. Several years ago Gaz would not have given him the time of day, if he had even wanted her to, she was far too busy being immersed into her own world of video games, pizza, and other childish things, afterall, she was a child then. She had grown up into a beautiful woman though.  
  
Zim himself had done quite a bit of maturing over the past several years as well. He was older than most humans when he first arrived on Earth, and was supposed to be mature by then, be a true invader, not a shame to his race. It was interesting how in just a few short Earth years he had somehow finally grown up, finally, but too late for his own sake. He was doomed beyond redemption as soon as he gained his assignment to "invade" Earth.  
  
Zim looked up from his thoughts to realize that he had already reached the spot where GIR was playing with the children and was watching their game. He blinked a few times and recomposed himself.  
  
"GIR!"  
  
GIR looked up and his eyes flashed red for a second, "YESSIR!" then they regained their own aqua hue.  
  
"Come with me now GIR, you have to come in for repairs again."  
  
GIR rubbed the hole in the top of his head, "Owies...can I have ICECREAM if I'm good? Huh? Please Master!!" GIR pleaded.  
  
Zim shook his head, saying no. GIR pouted and began to follow Zim to the apartment building. It hurt Zim to not be able to give the bot the small things it used to enjoy. GIR hadn't had any candy, pizza, or a cupcake in about two years now, but he always asked, acted sad for a minute, and then forgot about it, running about his own carefree day.  
  
They soon reached the building. Zim stepped inside the apartment that he, Gaz, Dib, and GIR all shared. It was pretty nice considering the times. The fact that it had any furniture at all was surprising. Zim and Dib had gotten together in an effort to improve their place about a year and a half ago. The two would go out and about the camp, looking for anything that could be used for furniture, they had managed to find a set of near perfect bunk beds. It was one of those sets where the bottom was actually a futon that folded out into an almost full sized bed, and the top bunk was a normal twin. For Gaz's birthday, Zim and Dib worked together to make her a nice bed. They took apart the bunks and fixed up the futon to be as comfortable as possible.  
  
*~One and a half years Earlier~*  
  
"Hmpf, I don't see much of a point in this spot Dib. We should be looking over there where most of the old furniture is anyways!" Zim stated, glaring at Dib from the pile he was searching through for anything useful, "I'm going over there." The alien still showed quite a bit of his pride and hadn't quite dropped any sort of grudge he held for the scythe-haired boy. Zim walked off, standing tall, hoping that he would find something quickly to show Dib that he was right in the first place.  
  
/Why does he have to still act so arrogant? We're all in this boat together now.../ Dib thought to himself. He glanced up from his unprevailing pile to see that Zim had found an old bench already. It seemed to be in pretty good condition, and they could use something to sit on, although it may not exactly be comfortable.  
  
"HaHAA!!" Zim stood up arrogantly, arms crossed and eyes glaring at Dib, "I have already found something! Have you? I think not!" he paused to see that Dib wasn't doing anything, he simply got up from his pile and began heading Zim's direction. /What is this? Is the Earthling not arguing with me?/ Zim quirked a non-existent eyebrow and shut up. He had learned a little more of the fine points about human ettiquette, and knew that it wasn't time to talk now. He continued on his search and Dib joined him about 10 feet down the line.  
  
Their search went on with only the bench as a prize for several more hours. They had found some chairs, but the wood proved to be filled with termites, and would have broken if anyone, even GIR, had tried to sit on it.  
  
The chairs and various other assorted items that proved to be unfitting were tossed aside with the rest of the heap. Zim and Dib continued in silence, save for various grunts and other such noises that were to be expected from males who were frustrated and tired from a hard day's work.  
  
Zim was scanning the ground when he heard a loud shout from Dib, who was about 40 feet down form him, "ZIM! C'MERE!! I found something!" Zim glanced up immediately and then ran to Dib's side.  
  
"What? I see nothing."  
  
"Look!" Dib pointed out into the distance for a few seconds before he looked at Zim, and realized Zim was cocking his invisible eyebrow at him again.  
  
"Really?" Sarcasm dripped from the Irken's words.  
  
Dib sighed and ran out to where he was pointing, and Zim followed him out, gracefully leaping between spots where the garbage was stable enough to stand until he came to Dib's side.  
  
Before them was an amazing sight, one they would have never cared about in the past though. In front of the two teens laid a set of bunk beds, they must have been freshly thrown out and still had the mattresses attatched to them. Zim ran up to the set and, pulling out a knife, sliced open the padding to check for insects and other such things. The mattress could be sewn back together, but they did not want to bring rodents and insects home with them. There was nothing. The inside was simply soft, thick padding and some springs, no rodents like Zim had feared. Dib had an enormous smirk across his face. Zim glared, "What are you smirking for? You should be happy, boy."  
  
Dib widened his smirk to a devilish grin, " 'Cause I have discovered something far better than that bench you found. I win."  
  
Zim glared at the ground, then at the bunk beds, "C'mon, let's just take it home."  
  
They walked nearly a mile carrying the bunks to the apartment before Gaz spotted them carrying the load of the beds and the bench laying on the bottom bunk.  
  
She ran up to them, heavenly smile plastered across her face, the two boys smiled and set the beds down on the ground for her to inspect.  
  
She stepped about, looking at every portion of the set of beds. She noticed that the bunk could easily be taken apart and made into two. The bench would make a sufficient couch for their meagar living room/dining room/kitchenette/laundry room. And one bed could be placed in each bedroom.  
  
Gaz bent over to inspect the underside of the beds and couch. Dib glanced over at Zim a few seconds later, who was looking down slightly and grinning like a maniac. Dib followed the Irken's scarlet eyes to Gaz's rear, and then back again, just to see that Zim had noticed him and was now looking up and whistling to no one.  
  
The next thing Zim saw was Dib's fist headed for his face.  
  
*~Present~*  
  
That was one of the first times that Zim and Dib managed to do anything together right. It may have been because they had a common interest, fixing up the place, and getting Gaz a worthy gift for her birthday.  
  
Zim pulled out his tools from under the bench in the living room. It had most of what was needed to completely reconstruct GIR. He had owned the kit since the beginning of his mission, but had no need for it until now. GIR did not need to be reconstructed, but simply repaired. This time his antenna was snapped in one place, and only held together by the wire running through it, and there was another hole in the top of his head.  
  
Zim peered inside with a flashlight to see the usual contents of GIR's head. There was lint, dust, bits of cloth, bubble gum, and other assorted things someone had decided to put in place instead of an AI chip and a central computer mainframe. When Zim had first discovered this he was in complete shock, and it was also when he realized that he really was sent to Earth on an exile trip. He had kept the contents the same though instead of upgrading him himself, he had grown to sort of like GIR's personality, he was some mechanical ray of sunshine in this little hole.  
  
He welded a new piece of metal to GIR's head and let the bot cool for a minute.  
  
"Can I go now Master? I wanna playyy!!" GIR pleaded with all his might.  
  
"No GIR, you need to stay here so you can cool off, when the welds are dry and cool you can go outside and play some more." He stated cooly as he packed up the tools he had used and placed them under the bench once more. He tapped one of the spots where he had welded the metal to the bot's head to see if it was done yet. It was a touch warm, but it wasn't going anywhere. GIR had begun to sing "The DOOM Song" again and was swaying back and forth in his spot. "GIR? If you shut up I will let you play now."  
  
GIR stopped singing immediately and looked hopefully at Zim, "Really??"  
  
"Yes, really. Are you going to sing that song again?"  
  
GIR grinned, "Nooooo...I won't!"  
  
"Then you can play." Zim said as he pulled the S.I.R. unit off of the bench and set him on the ground.  
  
"YAY!!" GIR ran about for a few seconds before charging out of the open door into the dim sunlight. 


	3. Watch Me Crumble

The Loss of Hope: Part 3  
  
By Laki  
  
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Author's notes! I've been absoultely thrilled at the response I've been getting the past several days! *bows* I thank you all very much, even those of you that have read and not reviewed. The next two chapters (including this one) will cover some more flashbacks from our favorite characters. What will come after that...I know the plot but we will all just have to find out now won't we?? Muahahahaha!! Anyways, again, flames will be used to keep the poor souls warm, they need it..it's gonna be pretty chilly soon.  
  
Gaz and Zim are slightly out of character in this chapter, I know this. I am also taking into context their surroundings and that they have aged 8+ years in my fic. Thank you.  
  
~blah~ = song lyrics "yes ladies and gentlemen, this is a song fic chapter"  
  
"blah" =duh, talking  
  
/blah/ =thoughts  
  
that's it for now.  
  
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~Will you walk me to the edge again? ~  
  
Gaz sat quietly by herself in the now deserted circle. Zim had left about an hour ago to repair GIR and had invited her to come along, but she declined, saying that she wanted some time to think. Depression is a very difficult thing to get rid of, especially in a world like this where one is constantly surrounded by misery, starvation, and other such ailments. Disease is preavailent, and most medicine has been used up by this point, herbal remedies are almost the only cure, and life expectancy is at about 40.  
  
All these subjects ran though her mind like a slow, old train. In addition to all of this she thought of her situation with her new little "family"-- Dib, (the only one of blood relation, and the only other human), Zim, and GIR. They called this shit hole their home now, all of them had now lost almost everything they took for granted when they were younger, and the memories of her childhood were slipping from her mind. She wondered how long it would be before this was the only life she knew....  
  
  
  
*~Six months earlier~*  
  
~Shaking moaning and I am drinking again  
  
Woke up tonight and no one's here with me ~  
  
Gaz shot up in her bed, woken up from a horrible dream. The details were fuzzy even at this point. She recalled only the very end, laying on a cold table, strange instruments all about her, large scarlet eyes peering over her body, the knives...the metal...the sounds of screams coming from various other places in the complex... It was a fairly frequent dream for her, and one of the worst nightmares she'd ever had in her life.  
  
Her breath was heavy and rapid, sweat trickled down her face and onto her night shirt. Her hands groped around in the dark to find a match to light a home made candle, she felt the little book and ripped one out to strike it. Gaz lit the candle to see a form on the floor beside her bed, he turned over in his sleep, and she could see thin antennae jutting back from a light green scalp. /Oh..it's just Zim...when'd he drag out of bed? Hmph..he probably got paranoid that Dib would walk in...he knows full and well that Dib always knocks before entering...hmm...oh well.../ He was normally asleep right beside her, and of course, Dib was completely oblivious to the fact. This had started when her nightmres had picked up, he would just fall asleep, opposite the bed from her, to be there when she woke from another illusion.  
  
She whispered, "Zim? Are you awake?" He turned over again, making a light grunt type noise and muttering something in Irken. /He must be asleep, he never speaks anything but English when he's awake.../  
  
The dim light illuminated a poorly made glass bottle in a drawer Gaz had just opened upon knowing of Zim's current lack of conciousness. A deep amber liquid sloshed back and forth slightly in it's container as Gaz reached a hand inside the drawer to retireve it. /I can forget this easily.../ She padded over to the opposite side of the room, where her position would not be visible should Zim wake up. She popped a cork out of the bottle and tipped it back...going until it was almost half gone...  
  
She sat there for almost an hour, just letting the memories of the past several minutes flow out of her mind. The room was spinning, and everything was suddenly beautiful. The swirl of colors...the light seemed to illuminate everything.  
  
She took another, much shorter swig of the burning liquid. It was almost sweet on her lips, but it burned as it went down her throat and into the rest of her digestive tract. She blinked a few times, wearily, before she realized exactly how much she had drunk. She held the bottle a few inches from her face to check the level, before taking a tiny sip and popping the cork back into place.  
  
She could scarcely remember her dream now, this was good to her. She began to get up to step to her bed when she passed out where she sat, bottle rolling out of her hand onto the floor.  
  
Zim, upon hearing something drop onto the floor from across the room, woke up from his sleep. His eyes adjusted quickly to the dim light and he could see from his place on the floor that Gaz was leaning against the wall asleep, and not exactly in a comfortable position. A bottle rolled across the room, just past half-empty. Zim felt as if he was going to spit just from the smell of it in a closed bottle, liquor had never really appealed to him, and that was the only alcohol left in this world. /She's drinking again.../  
  
~I'm giving in to you  
  
Take me under  
  
I'm giving in to you  
  
I'm dying tonight~  
  
Zim walked over to the opposite end of the room, to see that Gaz had, indeed, passed out just after closing the bottle, probably to save it for another night. He sat there for about two hours, until something startled Gaz awake before he could fall asleep himself. Her eyes fluttered open, she looked shaken and startled for a second before knowing that she had been caught again. "Zim, forgive me, but..but.." she sobbed heavily.  
  
"Gaz, there are other wa..." he was cut off by a sudden harsh tone in her voice.  
  
"No...don't even tell me that again!"  
  
"Gaz!"  
  
"NO!" she was on the brink of screaming at him, but held the tone of a harsh whisper one uses when they wish to yell, but needs to keep the quiet, "I can do what I please!" she glared at him "Do you even know why I do this? You don't, you don't understand! It helps me, I can sleep easier because of it...if YOU had stayed in bed, none of this would have happened...I only get nightmares when I feel alone, when I'm vulnerable..."  
  
~I'm giving in to you  
  
Watch me crumble  
  
I'm giving in to you  
  
I'm crying tonight  
  
I'm giving in to you~  
  
"...and if you're going to leave me here alone then just get out of my room." Zim had been compassionate until this point, she was going too far. He knew that in the past few times she's done this, a matter of hours later they would make up again. Not this time, he was showing her right then that he didn't need to deal with this. He would come back, yes, but give it some time...if she wanted him out so bad, she had it.  
  
~Caught up in life  
  
Losing all my friends  
  
Family has tried to handle my addictions  
  
Tragic it seems to be alone again ~  
  
  
  
"Fine then Gaz, you've told me this every time you get drunk, and I'm not putting up with your shit anymore. When you feel like you can have some respect for me as well," he glared directly at her, "and when you stop doing this to yourself, " he looked away to find a shirt for himself, "I will come back." He picked up a red tee and threw it on, and not bothering to change out of his night pants into some jeans, stormed out of the room, leaving the door open behind him.  
  
  
  
~I look forward  
  
To dying tonight ~  
  
Her face wretched in a painful emotion, Gaz eyed a knife in the kitchen, shortly after Zim stormed out, but something caused her to slam it into a nearby wall, intead of using it on her wrists like intended. She sobbed openly now, /why am I so weak! I have no need to live through this anymore.../ Her sobs became more fierce, and she ignored the knife in the wall, before making herself get up and walk back to her room.  
  
Dib peered out of his door, and seeing Gaz crying as violently as she was became too much for him. "Gaz!" he called out after her, "What's going on?..."  
  
She glared back at him, eyes just slightly crossed, "I'm going to bed." She turned around to begin heading back to her room again.  
  
"Where's Zim?"  
  
"He's gone." With that she slammed her door shut.  
  
Dib just stood there in bewilderment. GIR awoke, opening the lids on his robotic eyes, "What's going on Dibby?"  
  
Dib began walking back to his room to sleep, he would handle this in the morning, "Nothing, just go back to sleep GIR."  
  
With that the tiny bot fell back sound asleep, completely oblivious to the reality of the moment.  
  
~Drains over myself  
  
Life's harder every day  
  
The stress has got me  
  
I'm giving in....giving....giving ~  
  
About a week had passed. It seemed that Gaz was in her room ninety percent of the time since Zim had dissappeared. Dib had seen him out of the corner of his eye sometimes, he was there for a second and gone the next, almost like he was never there at all, but Dib had a feeling that he was still there...waiting for something.  
  
Dib had had his scrawls with the Irken, and still wasn't paticularly fond of him, but that thing broke his sister's heart, and he was determined to either find out why and make him come back, or make him leave forever.  
  
~Take me under  
  
I'm dying tonight  
  
Watch me crumble ~  
  
Gaz had made several other suicide attempts, even in front of Dib and GIR once. She was just sitting down on the floor with Dib and GIR when she decided the dinner knife looked like a good idea. She reached for it and began to eye it slightly, before gouging at her wrist. Dib had managed to leap over thier dinner and stop her in time to keep her from making a deep enough cut to die from loss of blood.  
  
They still hadn't gotten that stain out of the carpet. Dib had a harsh reminder every time he walked passed it and happened to look down. He went out to the dump site again, alone, to find a rug. He found one, promptly washed it and threw it over the stain because it made Gaz break into tears almost every time she ever laid eyes on it.  
  
~I'm crying tonight  
  
Take me under  
  
I'm giving in to you ~  
  
Her room was darker than usual one afternoon. Clouds covered every inch of the sky thicker than usual and it was threatening a thunderstorm. Gaz was alone in her room again and Dib was outside, talking to the usuals about the state of the world now.  
  
Gaz was laying in her bed. She had stopped crying over anything anymore, but this time was different. This time tears flowed freely across her cheeks, but she did not sob. She simply sat on the edge of her bed, arms crossed, staring into empty space.  
  
There was a rapping at the door...it continued for several minutes before Gaz even really realized that there was a sound at all. She made her way out of the room to the door. It creaked loudly as it opened, and her eyes welled up once again when she saw just who was standing there, under a drenched coat, but completely dry himself. Zim.  
  
She lost all words..she had planned for some time what she would say to him once he ever came back, but she lost all words when he stepped forward and just held her. She leaned into his embrace and let the tears flow freely once again...  
  
*~End Flashback~* 


End file.
